Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra Assembly Plants Idled For A Week In January

As one may expect, all General Motors North American assembly plants will be idled during the week of December 25th, 2023 in observance of the holidays. However, The General has announced that it will be extending the holiday shutdown for the GM Fort Wayne plant in Indiana that builds the Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, and the GM Oshawa plant in Canada that produces Silverado 1500 and Silverado HD units.

According to a report from The Detroit News, the two facilities – which produce the Detroit-based automaker’s full-size pickup trucks – will continue to be idle during the week of January 1st, 2024 for maintenance and engineering projects. Due to this, employees at Fort Wayne plant will be placed on temporary layoff during the downtime.

“While we know temporary layoffs can be challenging, we need to minimize future line breakdowns and increase our efficiencies,” Fort Wayne Executive Plant Director Dennys Pimenta claimed in a prepared statement. “This downtime provides the time we need to complete many of these projects.”

“GM Fort Wayne Assembly Plant informed employees the plant will be down for the week of January 1st, 2024, to implement maintenance and engineering projects,” GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly stated. “We will observe a one-week temporary layoff during this time and anticipate all employees returning to work on Monday, January 8th, 2024.”

While this temporary idleness may have an impact on the availability and inventory of these pickup trucks, an important piece worth noting multiple facilities are responsible for the production of GM’s pickup trucks. More specifically, the GM Silao plant in Mexico churns out the Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500, while the GM Flint plant produces the Silverado HD and the Sierra HD.

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Chevy Silverado Photos
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GMC Sierra Photos
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As a typical Florida Man, Trey is a certified GM nutjob who's obsessed with anything and everything Corvette-related.

Trey Hawkins

As a typical Florida Man, Trey is a certified GM nutjob who's obsessed with anything and everything Corvette-related.

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  • GM and every other manufacturer has essentially priced themselves out of the truck marketplace. Things have changed drastically in the last 60 days. People willing to sign up for $700 to $1,400 payments have left the marketplace. Used vehicles prices are headed downward and we’re now seeing customers with $20,000 plus in negative equity. In other words, they’re buried. The market is not going improve any with current incentives. A lot of people are wanting to reduce payments and that’s not going to happen. The days of trucks being cash cows for manufacturers are over. Unless, something super positive happens to the economy and I don’t see that happening. Automotive stocks are ready for a nosedive.

    • 100% agree. I see so many people upside down because they bought during the peak of vehicle prices in the last couple years. Get ready for a fun 24 election year, unless rates come down and incentives go up we will have a rough year.

      • how will rates fix anything? it will just make prices stay high and up. rates need to go up. those who bought during the high either need to pay it off like NORMAL PEOPLE or come with the difference if they want to sell.

        nobody owes you a new car every 1 year.

    • We have heard this song a dance before, and yet Trucks keep selling and generating all the profit for the companies.

      • considering they are shutting down assembly plants, and the dealer lots are filling up, I'd say they have quit selling

        • I sometimes need to travel on business up to 4 hours from home and I have noticed since june some dealers lots have been getting full and the lots of the same brand up the road still look the same as during the chip shortage.
          That tells me that some dealers are not going to stick their neck out and get stuck with aged inventory and paying the high interest floorplan costs on vehicles that are lot rotting even if they may lose a sale due to not having the vehicle that suits the customers fancy.
          A month ago I spotted a used 23 silvy with 3k miles and looking it up they have had it 90 days and reduced the price 7k. asked the salesman how sales have been doing and he said not good, banks tightening up on note approvals, people balking at their trade offers and the monthly payment price and people too far underwater on their trade. He also said the wholesale prices on some models have been dropping 1% sometimes up to 2% a week.

  • Even them robots are going rogue. Spotty spot welding them cabs roofs. Ya them trucks are overkill. Just give me a bed to haul things. Don't need a monster truck. Can hardly see out front or back of these giants. And the price, whoa. Prices have doubled since I boughty my 2004 half ton. No more government subsidies please for GM. Refund the buyers for sustaining the Fat Cats at top. I don't see why I can't order one with a 3 73 dif. Or a transmission cooler. Or extra capacity radiator, or a damn headlight switch.

    • you dont need extra capacity radiator. it hasnt been a thing since 50 years

      because high gears = bad fuel efficiency when you roll for 400k miles down the interstate....

      transmission cooler? it has that. usually built into the radiator (bottom part). aux one is standard on the HDs iirc. and if anything else fails, you can go pick one up from the store yourself and hook it up.

  • All the the truck manufacturers have to do is produce a vehicle that a working person can rely on and has value after they buy it. Now trucks are needed more than ever that work and cost less than 50,000.00 .My 1998 Gmc Suburban has 250,000 miles on it with no oil leaks, no electric or drivetrain problems with regular maintenance . My son in-laws Duromax blew up at 100,000, and a friends 2015 XL lost it's transmission at 110,000 m. Now it's $130,000.00 for an electric toy , what's it's value after it's first winter experience here in the northeast.

  • Even Cybertruck reservation holders are hesitant about purchasing. Once the “must have it now” crowd of affluent first adopters have dried up it will get interesting.

    Experts predict that roughly 20% of the 1 million CT reservation holders will convert their reservation to a purchase. That means 200,000 will follow through, 800,000 are saying no. The $30k price increases since 2019 has potential buyers saying goodbye to the Cyber_uck.

  • The average middle class American and Canadian citizens are STRUGGLING! Watch the thousands of videos of people who can’t make ends meet anymore. Jeep has over 700 days of inventory in the US. I talked to a GM salesman friend of mine in August and his sales were down 50% then. With 1.4 million post COVID era mortgages coming due in the next 18 months and rates going from 2% to 8+%, who can afford $70-100,000 for a truck or high end SUV. My financial advisor at Scotiabank in Alberta said, and I quote, “ Scotiabank is extremely concerned about the near future and we are not optimistic about 2025, early ‘26.” I understand the need for advancement to stay competitive but it’s coming at too great a cost to the consumer. Build me a cheap reliable vehicle where I don’t have to pay $500 bi/weekly to drive it.

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